i have a great story about lab today!
i got a
very dilute solution of benzoquinone (pretty toxic if you inhale, ingest, or bathe in it) splashed on my face by a lab partner (i was wearing safety goggles!!!), but since it was so dilute the teaching staff and i figured i could just rinse off my face and i would be fine.
but my TA, bless her, decided that we should call the harvard safety people just in case.
so we call them, and they put us on hold for like 10 minutes, during which time i decide to actually go rinse my face off in the sink. i come back and my TA tells me that the safety people said they need to do some research and they'll call us back soon. a few minutes later, a
safety squad from the chemistry department comes into our lab! they ask me how i am feeling, if i ran water over my face for 15 minutes, etc. and when they are satisfied i am not going to die, they leave.
then ANOTHER safety officer comes in (i guess he was the safety officer for the whole building rather than just the chemistry department), and asks me how i am doing, whether i ran water over my face for 15 minutes, etc. he soon leaves.
two minutes later the safety people we called initially call us back and ask us THE SAME set of questions. we satisfy them and hang up.
this continues on with various people from different departments and offices coming in to check on me - the head TA for the course, another safety person on the phone, the professor for the course, grad students who got curious after seeing a parade of people rushing around our lab - all for a teeny minor splash of VERY dilute solution. my lab mates and TA and i were laughing so hard by the time the 6th person came to check in on us - he thought we were laughing about safety and he told us that safety was no laughing matter
to top it off, i just got an email from the safety personnel of the chemistry building urging me to contact them if i think i need medical attention.
